Divulging Secrets Of 'The Closet'

Radical Homosexuals Target 2-faced Officials

CHICAGO — Paul Adams, a gay activist, still has the poster that he carried in two demonstrations outside the home of a politician suspected of being a closeted homosexual.

The demonstrators wanted the politician to withdraw his support from legislation perceived as being harmful to AIDS victims. The poster depicted a man dressed in leather and asked: ''Remember me?''

The protests were extremely controversial within the gay community because they went against a longstanding if informal ''code of silence'' that discouraged homosexual men and women from revealing each others' identities to outsiders.

Behind the protests was a new strategy that is advocated by more militant gay activists - exposing the sexual orientation of politicians who, while secretly homosexual, take public stands that are harmful to gay interests.

Most official gay and lesbian organizations are opposed to the strategy, called ''outing'' or ''tossing,'' but Adams still feels that the demonstrators did the right thing.

''This was an elected politician supporting laws harmful to my community,'' he explained.

The shift in protocol, as some gay activists call it, dates back to a meeting of about 200 gay and lesbian If a closeted gay politician votes for repressive legislation, he has his own conscience to answer to.Joanne Trapani, co-chair of a gay and lesbian task force

leaders in February 1988. Those in attendance considered the meeting to be a ''war conference'' for drafting new ways of fighting for gay rights and AIDS assistance.

After many participants complained that some of their most vocal opponents were people they ran into at gay bars, gay parties and gay resorts, a green light was given to those activists who wanted to drag such people out of the closet against their wills.

Since then, politicians in Illinois, Oregon, New York and Washington, D.C., have been the targets of outing efforts, although the activities have rarely been reported in the mainstream press and sometimes have been ignored by the gay press as well.

The tactic came to national attention in June 1989 amid a spate of unfounded rumors that then newly elected House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., is a homosexual.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an acknowledged homosexual, then threatened to expose some Republican politicians whom he knew to be gay unless those circulating the rumors about Foley backed off.

Since then, however, most mainstream gay and lesbian rights groups have condemned outing and adopted policies against it.

But it is still a favored tactic of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT-UP, of which Adams is a member, and it is privately supported by some members of less radical organizations.

''My opinion of this strategy changes all the time. It depends on how angry I am,'' said Timothy Drake, legislative chairman of the Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which officially opposes the strategy. ''On the one hand, I think we have no right to drag anyone out of their closet. On the other hand, I have witnessed first-hand many instances of closeted officeholders not only neglecting gay issues but also doing damage to the gay community. Those people should be held accountable.''

Some activists also want to pull out of the closet gay men and lesbians who are leaders in fields other than politics, arguing that these people could then serve as role models for younger homosexuals struggling to come to terms with their sexual identities.

Outweek, a New York gay publication, recently printed an extensive look at the gay life of a millionaire businessman who recently died. The Outweek article appeared after hints about the man's sexual orientation had appeared in USA Today and People magazine.

An Oregon politician was an outing target after he opposed funding school programs that described homosexuality as normal. A New York politician was accused of failing to provide adequate public services for AIDS sufferers.

And an Illinois politician was targeted after he supported legislation that allows doctors to test people for the AIDS virus without their knowledge and makes it a felony for an infected individual to engage in sex with another person.

No incontrovertible evidence was ever provided that any of the targets is, in fact, a homosexual.

The practice of outing, whether as a political tool or to identify successful and exemplary gay men and lesbians, has touched off intense debate among the diverse factions of homosexual America.

The debate pits the privacy rights of closeted homosexuals against what many activists see as their dangerous actions and decisions regarding AIDS.

In addition, opponents of outing maintain that it is always politically risky to anger public officials. They say there are more productive ways of obtaining increased funding for AIDS research or defeating anti-gay legislation.